Topics

All of that effective ball movement, those 3-pointers gently settling into the net and Chris Cooper serially Hoovering rebounds permitted a few late lapses in another productive chapter of the growth of Old Dominion's basketball team. Offense and rebounding, often in tandem, took center stage Thursday as the Monarchs built big leads and held off undermanned, if game, James Madison 80-71 at the Constant Center. "A couple months ago, if somebody takes off on vacation and comes back, they wouldn't have believed this," ODU coach Blaine Taylor said. "We couldn't score 80 points in two games." It would have stretched credibility, as well, to think that the...

Related "Chris Cooper" Articles

All of that effective ball movement, those 3-pointers gently settling into the net and Chris Cooper serially Hoovering rebounds permitted a few late lapses in another productive chapter of the growth of Old Dominion's basketball team.
Offense and...

NORFOLK — Dimitri Batten can be an exceptional player. He believes it, his teammates believe it, his coaches believe it. Now comes the hard part.
Directed effort is the bridge between belief and result, a bridge that Old Dominion's 6-foot-3 redshirt...

RICHMOND — Because both Old Dominion and VCU hang their hats on defense, the Colonial Athletic Association's fiercest rivalry figured to hinge on shot-making and ball protection.
Whether the Rams asserted themselves or ODU lacked in both areas is open...

Kent Bazemore, Old Dominion's top returning player, will undergo surgery Wednesday on a stress fracture in his left foot and is likely to be sidelined until early December.
The 6-foot-5 senior guard suffered the injury last weekend playing in the Hampton...

DeShawn Painter was never a full-time starter for North Carolina State’s basketball team. But his career arc was encouraging, marked by increased scoring, rebounding and playing time in each of his three seasons.
Family concerns, however, are...

For Old Dominion, the past couple of weeks have been a bit like Christmas and a bit like the cavalry arriving to aid the undermanned troops.
When Donte Hill and Richard Ross became eligible after the fall semester, they immediately found their way into...

Blaine Taylor admits he could change his mind five minutes from now, but Old Dominion's coach has hit upon a temporarily successful strategy of bringing seniors Chris Cooper and Trian Iliadis off the bench.
The decision paid dividends for the third...

Old Dominion is tied for first in a very competitive CAA race, which pleases coach Blaine Taylor. The pattern by which the Monarchs have done so concerns him.
Last Saturday's win against Hofstra was the fourth time in the past five games that the...

NORFOLK – Best-case scenario for William and Mary against Old Dominion: take care of the ball; milk the shot clock; hit a bunch of 3-pointers; a Monarchs' shooting clang-fest that carries the game to the final minutes.
What transpired at Saturday's...

Blaine Taylor may lose a race to a sloth after knee surgery this week, but his Old Dominion team is well positioned heading into the final three weeks of the regular season.
The Monarchs (15-9, 10-2 CAA) are among a four-team logjam atop the conference...

Now we see what effects three weeks of practices, games and collective maturity produce in the CAA's best rivalry. VCU comes to Old Dominion for the return engagement, Saturday at 2 p.m. before an amped sellout crowd at the Ted.
The Monarchs (16-10, 11-3...

Kent Bazemore said it will probably hit him Saturday afternoon during warmups. Too much ahead, and definitely too much behind, to ponder the end of his career at Old Dominion.
"I haven't really been reminiscing," Bazemore said earlier this...

RICHMOND – When Old Dominion took the floor at Virginia Union for practice Friday, the day before its CAA tournament opener, Blaine Taylor decided that it would be a lengthy, full-go, scrap and hustle and scrimmage session. No easy walk-through or...

NORFOLK — The drill is called “Monster,” and for good reason. The team is split in two and lined up single-file, end to end, half facing one basket, half facing the other. The leader of each line has a ball.When the whistle blows, each player in...

In the post-game melee, a life-size cutout of Frank Hassell loomed over the Old Dominion fans celebrating on the court at the Richmond Coliseum.
The home-made likeness was attention-grabbing, but the real deal was even bigger.
Hassell had 22 points as...

Upon arriving at Old Dominion in 2001, Blaine Taylor discovered a state with a college basketball landscape as diverse as its beach-to-mountains topography.
Teams competed in the ACC, Big East, Colonial Athletic Association, Atlantic 10, Southern and Big...

As the saying goes, you can't coach size, but Old Dominion has gotten quite accustomed to winning with it.
Senior forward Frank Hassell had 18 points and nine rebounds as the Monarchs scored 23 second-chance points in a 69-65 win against George Mason...

Frank Hassell made a little history against his old buddy on Wednesday night.
Hassell notched his fifth double-double of the season and surpassed 1,000 points in his career as Old Dominion held James Madison 15 points below its Colonial Athletic...

Nothing as shocking as VCU outrebounding Old Dominion happened on Saturday. No, the sky was still intact after the Rams' 59-50 victory at the Constant Center.
But the Monarchs, who came into the game averaging 14.6 second-chance points, were held to just...